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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28292658">Secret Santa</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elodie12/pseuds/Elodie12'>Elodie12</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Runaways (TV 2017)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Christmas, Co-workers, F/M, Fluff, Secret Santa</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-11 00:16:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,338</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28292658</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elodie12/pseuds/Elodie12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Gert never really liked Christmas. And worse, she always hated this Secret Santa thing her workplace was doing every year.<br/>Except, this year her Secret Santa's gift happens to be pretty great and her Secret Santa even more ...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Chase Stein/Gertrude Yorkes, Karolina Dean/Nico Minoru</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>30</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Secret Santa</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Many thanks to SurprisedMe for correcting and proofreading this one-shot, it was a lot of works so thanks again for your help on this :)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>♫</em>
  <em> Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, </em>
  <em>♫</em>
</p><p>
  <em>♫</em>
  <em> Jingle All The Way ♫</em>
</p><p>Gert groaned as the words of <em>Jingle Bells</em> were belted out from the kitchen.</p><p>Her little sister Molly, who was also her roommate, was dancing around the kitchen while as she made breakfast. Gert cursed mentally, knowing it was pointless to say anything. Her sister would just turn the volume up to piss her off.</p><p>Gert and Molly weren’t biologically sisters. Gert’s parents, Stacey and Dale, had adopted Molly when she was six, but Gert always considered Molly her full sister. Even if it was harder to do when Molly let her Christmas spirit run wild.</p><p>Gert never really liked Christmas. It’s not that she hated it, it’s just, she didn’t understand why some people would make a song and dance over it.</p><p>When she was younger, and Molly wasn’t living with them, her parents never celebrated it because they were Jewish. And Gert was fine with it. Hanukkah was cool, even if now Gert considered herself as non-believer. Religions had persecuted to many human being in world history for her to believe in any God.</p><p>Anyways, she never complained about not celebrating Christmas, until Molly came into their lives and the little girl confessed she missed celebrating this holiday. So, the Yorkes decided they were going to celebrate both, to please everyone, and Gert was OK with it because she’d do anything to put a smile on her little sister’s face. But as the years went by Molly became more and more of a Christmas lover, while Gert started to realize just how overcommercialized the holiday was. It got to the point where she just wanted to vomit when she heard the lyrics to <em>Last Christmas.</em></p><p>Which, of course, was the next song on Molly’s Christmas playlist.</p><p>“Good morning!” Molly sang out as Gert trudged into the kitchen, pausing her carefully practiced choreography she’d made just for this song.</p><p>Gert only groaned, pouring herself a giant cup of coffee before sitting herself on the kitchen table. She snagged a pancake from the plate Molly had filled with enough to feed an elephant.</p><p>“I see you’re in a good mood today.” Her sister joked.</p><p>“How could I not be? You’re playing the best songs of all time and in a few hours I’ll have to open my Secret Santa’s gift … I can’t wait!” she said, sarcasm dripping from every word.</p><p>Molly just giggled, knowing how much her sister liked the office tradition.</p><p>See, Gert loved her job. She worked for a Non-For-Profit called “<em>Runaways</em>,” which let her make a living doing something really meaningful. Gert worked in the company outreach department, helping explain to people how they can help make the world a better place, both by supporting their efforts and changing their own actions.</p><p>But then, three years ago, when she’d heard the bosses were starting this Secret Santa stuff, Gert seriously considered jumping out the office window. Which was eight stories off the ground. Because she knew this thing was the worse. Having to offer a Christmas present to a stranger, knowing there was an 80% chance they wouldn’t like it and throw it away. And it was going both ways.</p><p>Gert knew that today, she’d have the present waiting for her on her desk, and she couldn’t wait to put a fake smile on her face before throwing the shitty gift away. The first year, it was the engineering manager Alex who draw her name. He got her a pair of Christmas socks.</p><p>Awesome.</p><p>What was he thinking? That she was a house-elf and was waiting for a sock to finally set her free?</p><p>The next year it was Eiffel, who worked in the same department as her, but for totally different reasons. Eiffel was a severally self-centered girl, with a need for attention that was beyond comprehension. While Gert was hired for her brains and social justice warrior sensibilities, Eiffel was only there because she had a lot of followers on Instagram.</p><p>Anyways, Eiffel got her a make-up kit, which came with a lovely remark about Gert’s looks. “You should definitely start using some if you don’t want to end up alone Bernadette.” Gert wasn’t even surprised Eiffel didn’t get her name right, even with her working at the desk right next to her. She used to call Karolina and her “Camellia and the other person”.</p><p>In short, she was the absolute worst.</p><p>So this year, Gert’s expectations weren’t very high.</p><p>That was why she went to work dragging her feet and praying for a fire drill or something equally pleasant to save her from the impending nightmare.</p><p>She stopped at the reception desk to give Earl, the security guy, his gift. This year she was his Secret Santa and the poor guy already knew what he was going to get. Gert had already decided on the gift she was getting before she even picked a name from the Santa hat. Just to underline much she hated this tradition and this holiday in general, she’d bought a mug with “<em>Happy Women Day</em>” in bold and flowers all over it. For good measure, she hadn’t even bothered wrapping it – wrapping paper is poison for the Earth. Gert posted about it on the <em>Runaway’s</em> Instagram yesterday.</p><p>And she hadn’t kept it a secret either since the mug was the exact same gift she’d gotten the last two years. Vaughn from the RH department, the guy who she’d gotten the first year, complained she wasn’t playing getting into the Christmas spirit. Gert told him to exchange his present for a vibrator and the guy turned pale as milk. Nobody ever complained about her lack of Christmas spirit again.</p><p>“Wow, uh…Thanks Gert, it’s … Really nice.” Earl smiled politely at her.</p><p>Gert rolled her eyes.</p><p>“You don’t have to lie, Earl. I know the gift sucks. Just like this Secret Santa thing.” She replied bitterly, stomping off to her office.</p><p>“Hey Gertie!” Karolina greeted her.</p><p>Among her coworkers, the best was Karolina, a blonde and luminous girl who was the total opposite of Gert in nearly every way possible. And while Gert had been pretty sure the two of them will never get along at first, she quickly changed her mind after the two had been teamed up by <em>Runaways</em> for the Pride parade. Gert never thought she could have so much fun at a parade, but Karolina was awesome and so was Pride. Since that day the two of them had become friends and work became that much better.</p><p>But Gert was seriously reconsidering that friendship when she saw Karolina with a Santa hat on her head.</p><p>“Hi Kar. I see that you get all dressed up.” Gert said, staring at her friend’s head.</p><p>“Oh yeah! I wanted to be in the spirit of things for the Secret Santa day. At first I thought about wearing a fuzzy Christmas sweater, but I remembered you threatened to burn the one I wore last year, so…”</p><p>“I could burn that hat too, you know?” she tried to sound menacing, but Karolina just giggled.</p><p>“Don’t be so grumpy. Christmas is awesome! I really don’t get why you hate it so much.” her friend pouted.</p><p>“Because it’s an over-commercialized holiday created by capitalists. And don’t get me started on the bullshit the Christmas movies are serving us. Woman stops believing in love after a nasty break-up and decides to go re-energize herself at her aunt’s house, meets an incredibly hot man and his lovely kid. They fight first, but eventually she start to love his doting father routine. And after some stupid unforeseen development, they kiss and become the most beautiful blended family of the city.”</p><p>“For someone who doesn’t like them, you seem to know a lot about them.” Karolina teased.</p><p>“Thank Molly for that. I think she made me watch all the Christmas movies ever made …” Gert grumbled.</p><p>She let out a high pitched whine as they rounded the corner to her desk. A brightly wrapped present was sitting there on top of it waiting for her.</p><p>“Hey, you should be happy you got something! My Secret Santa present hasn’t showed up yet …” complained Karolina.</p><p>“You want mine?” Gert offered, handing the thing to the blonde.</p><p>“Nope! It’s yours! Now open it!” Karolina commanded. “I want to see what you got!”</p><p>Gert groaned, but did as she was told, knowing how persistent her friend could be. It was pointless to try to fight her. So she plopped down in her chair, setting the present in front of her.</p><p>One good point at least, it was wrapped with a purple scarf and not wrapping paper. The person who got her this obviously read her post about green alternatives to wrapping paper. The scarf was pretty so at least this wouldn’t be a complete waste.</p><p>The present itself was pretty light, so it was probably cloths. Gert prayed it wasn’t a Christmas sweater.</p><p>She unwrapped it and her eyes widened when she saw what was inside. It was a black t-shirt, with a green dinosaur on it over the words: <em>“Girl pow-rawr!”</em>.</p><p>Gert took it with both hands, holding it up in front of her to examine it more attentively.</p><p>“Wow.” Karolina said next to her. “I don’t know who got you this, but clearly, they know you pretty well.”</p><p>“Don’t mess with me Kar, I know it’s from you!” Gert replied, still looking at the shirt.</p><p>Karolina stepped back, holding her hands on front of her.</p><p>“Hey, it wasn’t me.” she said. “I got Vaughn this year…”</p><p>Gert bit her lips, knowing the guy had a horrible crush on her friend. The poor boy still hadn’t wrapped his head around that Karolina was gay and he had no chance. He kept trying to be charming with her, seemingly unable to take a hint.</p><p>“Please, tell me you got him a vibrator.” Gert said.</p><p>“Uhh, no.” Karolina made a face. “He’d probably get it wrong and think I’m proposing or something.”</p><p>Gert started to laugh at the mental image. “Or, he could finally get that you don’t like man and would rather use a …”</p><p>“Don’t finish that! Please!” The blonde begged her, making her laugh even harder. “I got him a Santa Klaus’ key ring by the way.”</p><p>“You’re no fun.” Gert pouted.</p><p>“Maybe… But that doesn’t help us finding who was your Secret Santa.” Karolina replied.</p><p>Gert looked again at the piece of cloth in her hand. The dinosaur design rang a bell, like she’d seen it or something like it before.</p><p>“Do you know who can draw like this?” Gert asked, pointing to the image.</p><p>“Um …” Karolina thought. “Oh, yeah!” Her face lighted up. “Nico from design. She’s so really good.” She added, blushing a little.</p><p>Gert smirked. Karolina didn’t want to admit it, but she clearly had a crush on the Goth artist since the company hired her. One day, about three months ago, Nico the Freelance Artist showed up in their office to present a design she’d been hired to make for their <em>Twitter</em> feed. She gotten turned around somehow and asked Karolina where she was supposed to drop it off, but the blonde had gotten so flustered Gert had step in. Their bosses had been so impressed that they’d offered her a permanent place on their team on the spot.</p><p>Since that day Gert tried to convince her friend to ask the girl out, but Karolina kept running and hiding whenever she got anywhere near her. She kept saying that she had put too royally embarrassed herself, Nico must think she was an idiot or something.</p><p>“I should go ask her, then. You want to come with?” Gert asked, smirking at her friend.</p><p>Karolina turned completely red and muttered “no”, saying she had too much work to do. Gert chuckled and rolled her eyes, leaving with the shirt in hand to the design department.</p><p>The “Ding” of the elevator bell heralded her arrival on the sixth floor a few minutes later. Nico’s work space was just around the hallway bend from there. Her work table was at the end of an open room. The girl herself, dressed in head-to-toe black as always, was bent over the table, presumably working on some design in her sketch book, music blasting through her headphones so loud Gert could hear it clear across the room. And it wasn’t a Christmas song.</p><p>Gert’s opinion of Nico went up several degrees and she made a mental note to set her and Karrie up even if it killed her.</p><p>“Hey, Nico!” Gert called, walking up to the table and waving her hand girl in her field of vision.</p><p>Nico, realizing someone was trying to get her attention and she shut the music off.</p><p>“Gert!” Nico smiled on seeing her, taking the headphones off to hear properly. “What’s bring you down here?”</p><p>“This.” Gert explained, showing her the t-shirt. “You designed it, didn’t you?”</p><p>“Yep.” Nico answered. “I’m pretty proud of that one actually.”</p><p>“You should be, it’s really great! Thanks for the present by the way, it’s by far one of the best gifts I’ve gotten.”</p><p>“Oh, it’s not from me.” Nico said. “I did design it, but only because somebody ordered it from me from my Freelance site.”</p><p>“Really?” Gert exclaimed surprised. “If it wasn’t from you, who’s it from?”</p><p>“Um…I don’t know. Hang on.” Nico said, putting her sketching book aside to grab her laptop. “I got the ordered last week I think…” Her eyes where flicking back and forth across the screen. “Yep, here it is. Huh… It says it came from our office in the engineering department. No name though. It just has to generic department e-mail address.” Nico added with a pout.</p><p>“It’s fine.” Gert smiled. “I’m gonna go down there and see if I can find who it was.”</p><p>Gert was searching in her memory, but she couldn’t think of anyone she knew from engineering, except for Alex. And she never really spoke to him since he gave her those hideous socks.</p><p>“It’s good that you’re here, actually.” Nico cut into her thoughts. “I might be going to need your help with my Secret Santa.”</p><p>“You don’t know who had you?” Gert asked.</p><p>“Uh…No. It was that girl you work with, Eiffel.” She grimaced. “She got me this horrible <em>Barbie</em> pink lipstick … When she told me I should stop wearing dark make-up I told her to stuff her gift up her ass. I don’t know why, but I think she didn’t appreciate it.”</p><p>Gert busted out laughing, picturing Eiffel’s offended face in her head.</p><p>“Jeez, you’re a Queen. You have all my respect.” Gert said when she managed to calm down.</p><p>“Thanks.” Nico smiled. “Well, will you help a queen finding a gift for the person she draws from the hat? I got your friend Karolina. And, to be honest, I still have nothing.”</p><p>“Oh …”</p><p>“Yeah, it’s just … I feel like she didn’t like me, you know? Every time I try to talk to her she runs away.”</p><p>Oh boy. If only Nico knew.</p><p>Gert bit her lips. Karolina couldn’t be mad at her if she let it slip to Nico that the blonde is into her. It was for her friend’s well-being after all.</p><p>And kind of her own, too. She couldn’t spend another year watching Karolina daydream over Nico and their future wedding while, in real life, not even being brave enough to ride the elevator with her.</p><p>“Well, I think I know just the girl you can give her. And the good news is you won’t have to run out and buy anythings”</p><p>“Really? Cool! What is it?” Nico asked happily.</p><p>“Ask her out to dinner.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“Or to lunch, whichever you prefer.” Gert shrugged.</p><p>“Why would she wants me to do that?”</p><p>“Because she’s been dying to ask you out since the second she saw you, but is always too overwhelm by your <em>”perfect aura”</em>, her words not mine, to do it.” Gert explained.</p><p>“Wait. Is this why she acts so weird around me? She…” Nico let her thought hang suspended, looking for the right word to say.</p><p>“…has a hopeless and desperate crush on you? Yeah, totally.” Gert deadpanned.</p><p>“Interesting.” Nico whispered with a sly smile.</p><p>Gert saw her turning back to her computer, pulling up Google and typing <em>“romantic restaurants nearby”</em> and she decided it was her que to leave. She said goodbye, winking teasingly at Nico and headed off for the fourth floor to continue her investigation.</p><p>Once the doors opened on the engineering floor, she bit her lower lip. She no idea where to even start.</p><p>The space was split up into twelve different sections, all occupied by people Gert rarely saw. She did recognized Alex who was talking to a hunk of a guy she only knew as <em>“dropdead gorgeous Chase”</em>. Gert gulped as they both saw her standing there. She felt even more like an idiot, just standing there with nothing to do while the hottest guy she’d ever seen was staring at her, probably wondering how lost she had to be to end up on their floor.</p><p>Gert remembered the first time she met him.</p><p>It was on her fist day working at <em>Runaway’s</em>. She’d been completely freaking out, walking with shaking legs in the main entrance. She was supposed to meet with the team leader of her department, Max, and she was biting her nails anxiously, waiting for the elevator. Chase showed up and she didn’t notice him at first, too caught up in her anxiety to realized he was there, until he asked her what floor she was going to.</p><p>“Uh … The eighth.” She’d stammered with a croaking voice, letting him push the button for her.</p><p>“Social media, uh?” He smiled, making Gert’s heart beat faster. “Max is pretty cool. And if he ever bothers you, you can remind him that he still owns me a bottle of bourbon for fixing his computer and not telling anyone he got a virus trying to download the last episode of <em>The Young &amp; the Restless.</em>”</p><p>Gert giggled softly, feeling her anxiety draining away slightly. This place couldn’t be so bad if this guy worked here.</p><p>“Seriously? It’s a miracle that shitty show didn’t blow up the entire network.” She joked, making him laugh.</p><p>“I’m Chase.” he introduced himself.</p><p>“Gert.” she replied.</p><p>“Pleasure to meet you, Gert.” he whispered.</p><p>They were staring at each other, having what Gert thought was a moment, when the ding of the elevator brought them back on Earth. Chase said it was his floor when the words “Engineering” flashed on the elevator display. Gert held in the surprised exclamation she wanted to let out at the news this beautiful man was an engineer and not the model for their next commercial.</p><p>“Good luck on your first day, Gert.” He said as he left. “I’m sure you’re going to kick all their asses.” He winked at her.</p><p>She’d chuckled, understanding the reference to her jacket which had <em>“Kick Ass Girl”</em> on the back. She thanked him softly and even after the elevator door closed on him she could still picture the bright smile he was giving her in her head.</p><p>She immediately liked him and thought he was kinda nice. Until the Christmas party a few days later, where the guy ended up making out with Eiffel only an hour after it started. She realized then that even if he was smart, he was still super-hot and way out of her league and if he liked a pretty face he’d probably go for someone like Eiffel. It was probably best for her to not crush on a dude like him.</p><p>So, she tried really hard to just avoid him as best she could, but it was really hard to stop her heart from beating faster every time he was around. And she also couldn’t help but let her eyes wander when she was seeing him from far away and she was certain he couldn’t notice her staring.</p><p>She hadn’t spoken with him much since that day, mostly because she didn’t have much contact with engineering in general. Except for today, apparently. She decided that, as Chase already saw she was there, it would be even more stupid of her to turn around and go back to her office. She took a deep breath and headed toward Alex. After all, he was the only person in here she’d exchanged more than ten words with.</p><p>“Hey Alex!” she called, dragging the guy’s attention to her.</p><p>Chase on the other hand, had had his eyes on her since the second she stepped on this floor and Gert started to wonder if she was having something on her face.</p><p>“Can I talk to you for a sec?” she asked.</p><p>“Uh … I’m kinda busy right now … We’re in the middle of an important project.” Alex replied, clearly afraid that she was going to tear into him again, which, honestly, she loved doing.</p><p>She rolled her eyes and was about to say something cutting when hot Chase spoke up.</p><p>“It’s fine Wilder. I need to go ask Xavin about the results of our last simulation anyway.” Chase said, getting up to leave. “Hi Gert.” he said as he passed.</p><p>“Hey Chase.” she replied over her shoulder, taking her attention off Alex. Chase always made her nervous, and the fact that he was still staring at her weirdly wasn’t helping. He moved from his desk to leave Gert and Alex alone, almost tripping on the floor when his feet caught on a chair’s let. Gert looked at him, worried and confused, but he straightened himself, trying to keep a cool attitude on, and continued his way. She heard him cursing to himself though, even if he tried to be discreet about it.</p><p>“Do you need anything, Gert?” asked Alex, making her stop staring at Chase.</p><p>“Uh? Oh, yeah.” She showed him the t-shirt she was still carrying. “Do you know who ordered this design from Nico? She said it came from this department.”</p><p>“Um…No. I didn’t hear about anyone ordering that, sorry.” He replied.</p><p>Gert pouted. She was back to square one.</p><p>“But, I can ask around if you want to?” he offered, making her perk back up.</p><p>“Really? That’d be great, thank you!” she exclaimed.</p><p>“It’s the least I can do after the horrible gift I gave you two years ago.” he joked.</p><p>Gert bit her lips.</p><p>“Yeah, I’m sorry about how I’ve acted about that, by the way … But, seriously Alex, socks?” she chuckled.</p><p>“Yeah, probably not one of my best idea.” he conceded, gritting his teeth. “If it makes you feel better, this year I drew Eiffel …”</p><p>“Ouch. I could almost feel sad for her…” she jested.</p><p>“Yep. I almost regretted giving her a pencil-sharpener. But then she called me Alvin.” he snorted.</p><p>“At least she got the first letter right. The only time she made an effort to calling me by a name, it was Bernadette.” Gert scoffed.</p><p>Alex laughed with her and after a little more small-talk, she decided it was time for her to head back to her office. She did have to actually get some work done today. Alex promised he’d tell her as soon as he found who ordered the shirt, so Gert had no reasons to stay.</p><p>On her way out she passed Chase again, working on who knows what. She could feel him watching her as she left though and she fought not to blush. She didn’t dare to look at him back, but heard him dropping some of his tinkering tools when she passed next to him. She stopped to look at him from the elevator door, wondering what was his problem and the guy just passed a hand on his face, calling himself <em>“idiot”</em>.</p><p>She shrugged and kept going on her way back to the eighth floor and to her desk, where she was warmly welcomed by a hysterical Karolina.</p><p>“I can’t believe this! What did you do?!” she screamed.</p><p>“What?” asked Gert, pretending she knew nothing.</p><p>“Oh, come on! I know you did something! You left to see her and then she comes here minutes after that, asking me to go dinner with her! ‘So she could apologize for not buying any Secret Santa gift’.”</p><p>“Well, guess I’m not the only one who’s going to get something out of her Secret Santa this year…” Gert teased.</p><p>“Oh my God! Gert, I’m so stress! It’s a miracle I managed to say ‘Yes’.” Karolina confessed. “What am I going to wear?”</p><p>“Don’t bother with that, it’s not important. Plus, you look hot in anything.” Gert reasoned her. “Just, no Christmas sweater, please.”</p><p>Karolina giggled nervously and they spent the rest of the morning planning for her date. Her friend was acting like a teenager freaking out over her first date and it was so cute to see, even Gert was wasn’t temped to vomit.</p><p>When they came back after lunch her team leader, Max, asked her if she could take care of a big project and she was too busy to think about her Secret Santa again. She realized she still didn’t who it was when she got home and Molly asked her who gave her the awesome t-shirt.</p><p>She decided it was too late to worry about it, and she’d deal with it later.</p><p>The next day, she decided to wear the t-shirt and the purple scarf to work, not giving a shit if it was ugly Christmas sweater day. Usually, they did a contest to see who could wear the ugliest, and the winner would leave with ten pounds of gingerbread Christmas cookies.</p><p>It went without saying that Gert skipped the contest every year?</p><p>Anyway, she was walking through the front doors, her eyes already aching from having to see so many Christmas colors in one room before she could get her second coffee of the day.</p><p>She rushed to hide behind her desk, frowning when she noticed Karolina was not wearing her usual horrible sweater this year. Her friend was smiling goofily, doodling little hearts in her notebook in front of her.</p><p>“Someone finally decided to join me in skipping the Christmas bullshit contest this year.” Gert exclaimed, sitting herself on Karolina’s desk.</p><p>Karolina who was clearly lost in lala crush land, jumped a little at Gert’s interruption.</p><p>“Uh? Oh, Gert. How are you today?” she asked, wide smile still stuck on her lips.</p><p>“Not as good as you clearly.” Gert teased, grinning widely. “So how was your date…?”</p><p>“It was perfect, Gert. She’s so sweet and funny and lovely and…”</p><p>“OK! If you’re going to list me all the wonderful qualities of your girlfriend, I’m gonna need coffee number two.” Gert exclaimed, getting up.</p><p>“Oh! Before I forget, Alex called earlier. He said he found the information that you need.”</p><p>“Well, let’s hope the coffee on the fourth floor is better than the dreck we have here.” Gert joked, before heading to the elevator.</p><p>Once Gert got to Engineering she saw that Alex wasn’t in his office, so she did what she headed to the kitchen to steal some coffee. She bumped into a firm and muscular back, hitting her head against Chase solid shoulder.</p><p>“Ouch!” She said, massaging her temple.</p><p>“Gert! Shit, I’m so sorry!” he exclaimed, putting a hand on her arm. “Are you okay?” he asked, scanning her head with worried eyes.</p><p>“I’m fine …” she grumbled, still feeling destabilized by the way he was looking at her. “Plus, it was my fault. I didn’t see you, sorry.” she added, regretting her choice of words when he made a kicked puppy face. “Obviously I was too blind by the hideous thing you’re wearing.” she joked, trying to cheer him up, pointing to his ugly Christmas sweater.</p><p>It worked and his face lit up with an amused smile, putting his dimples on display. She blushed a little and focused her eyes on something else than his beautiful face. If she didn’t she knew her brain would turn like jelly in seconds. Instead, she examined the said ugly sweater and frowned. First of all, it wasn’t fair that even in a hideous Christmas sweater the guy was still smoking hot. Second, he was wearing a <em>“Merry T-rex mas” </em>sweater with a dinosaur on it. Which reminded her of her new t-shirt now she thought about it…</p><p>Gert didn’t know what to think. Was it possible that Chase was her Secret Santa?</p><p>“Yeah? Well, we can’t all have a cool t-shirt like you.” he teased.</p><p>OK, if he indeed was the one who gave her the shirt he was probably just trying to know what she thought of it. Maybe she could mess with him, see his reaction and find out if it was really from him.</p><p>“Um … If you say so …” she shrugged., faking annoyance.</p><p>“You don’t like it?” he asked hesitantly, his eyes filling with worry.</p><p>“Not really… I only put it on because I didn’t have anything else clean at home…” she lied, internally cackling with glee.</p><p>Chase made a very hurt face and she bit the inside of her cheek. He was acting so disappointed over the gift to not be from him. She was about to explain she was just messing with him when Alex walked in the kitchen.</p><p>“Hey Gert! I see you got my message about me finding out who was your Secret Santa.” said Alex, his eyes moving knowingly from Gert to Chase.</p><p>“Yeah, thanks again for helping me on that.” Gert replied.</p><p>“No problem. So, did Chase tell you it was from …” Alex started.</p><p>“Xavin!” Chase cut him off. “No, I was about to when you got here.”</p><p>Gert saw Chase and Alex exchanged looks and she wasn’t an idiot. She was sure the present was from Chase, not Xavin. The girl was nice, but also a little weird. Not in a mean way, just, sometimes it was like she came from another planet.</p><p>“Oh.” Gert replied. “You sure it was from her?”</p><p>“Yes, absolutely. I was there when she ordered the design of it to Nico.” Chase added.</p><p>And Gert started to feel less so sure of herself. So, the gift wasn’t from him? She needed to be sure.</p><p>“Who’d you get by the way? For Secret Santa.” she tried.</p><p>“Oh, uh…Topher, the mail delivery guy.” He answered quickly. “I bought him a pair of socks.”</p><p>Oh. That was too quick to be a lie…</p><p>So, the gift was from Xavin for real. Gert knew she shouldn’t feel so disappointed by the news, but she couldn’t help it. She smiled politely and said goodbye to the boys, leaving the kitchen. She wanted to stop by Xavin’s desk to thank her, but she wasn’t here today. Gert shrugged and continued her way, it was fine, she could do that another day.</p><p>She went back to her office and spent the rest of the day next to Karolina babbling about how perfect Nico was. She was only half listening to her, still feeling disappointed by everything. She didn’t know why she was so sad the present wasn’t from Chase.</p><p>Well, she knew why, she just didn’t want to admit it to herself.</p><p>She was in the middle of pretending to listen to Karolina going on about Nico when Topher to showed up on their floor with the mail. He brought a package for her, asked her for a signature.</p><p>“Nice shirt.” he said.</p><p>“Thanks.” she replied, handing him the signed paper back. “Guess it’s better than a pair of socks.”</p><p>She’d said it as a joke, but the guy frowned.</p><p>“Did Chase tell you he didn’t like them? He said it was happy about the present.”</p><p>“Uh…” she stammered, a little lost. “I’m not sure to follow. Chase got you socks, right?”</p><p>“No…” he replied. “I got him socks. I was his Secret Santa” he explained.</p><p>Gert stiffened. What?! So, he had lied to her?</p><p>She didn’t pay attention to Topher anymore, she was already rushing off to the fourth floor, not noticing anything at all the way down ‘till was stomping down the rows of work benches. She stopped in front of Chase who was bent over his table, giving the whateveritwas his full attention. When he raised his head and met her eyes, he gulped.</p><p>“I need to talk with you. In private.” she growled.</p><p>He nodded and followed her silently. She went to an empty corridor where no wandering ears could hear them.</p><p>“So, I guess you figured out it was from me?” he said, passing a hand in his hair.</p><p>“Yep. Why did you lie about it?” She asked, arms folded.</p><p>“Because you said you didn’t like it.” he replied simply.</p><p>“I was just messing with you! I wanted to see your reaction to see if it really was from you or not.” she explained.</p><p>“Really?” he questioned hopefully. “So, you actually like it?”</p><p>She blushed a little.</p><p>“Y-yeah I did. It was a great gift, th-thank you.” she stammered.</p><p>Chase face lit up and his face split in an idiotic grin.</p><p>She still had some questions and it wasn’t a pretty face that was making her forget them.</p><p>“Why do you care so much about what I think of your gift?” She decided to start with.</p><p>It knocked him off guard she saw, he was scrambling for an answer.</p><p>“Chase?” she urged him.</p><p>“I didn’t want to disappoint you…” he confessed sheepishly.</p><p>“Why?” she frowned.</p><p>He sighed and closed his eyes, staying unbearably silent. She was tired of this. This guy was just too hard to understand. One second he was the kindest with her and the next he was lying or hiding stuff from her. She didn’t know where she stood with him and she didn’t like it.</p><p>“Fine! If you don’t want to talk to me, I still have a lot of work waiting for me.” she said while starting to leave.</p><p>“It’s because I like you!” he shouted when she was at the end of the corridor.</p><p>She stiffened, her mind circling the words over and over in her head to be sure she heard him right or if it was just her mind messing with her. When she regained the control of her body, she turned around to face him. He was blushing a little, looking clearly embarrassed and kind of worried too.</p><p>“W-what did you just say?” she said, completely stunned.</p><p>He visibly gulped and gathered all the courage he could to repeat his words.</p><p>“I’ve liked you since the first time I saw you in the main entrance. You were looking so bold with your purple hair and this kickass leather jacket. And I felt like such an idiot when I told you that you were going to kick their asses. God, that was the worst line ever.”</p><p>Gert was still in shock after Chase declaration, trying to assimilate the information, but she chuckled softly at the memory of that day.</p><p>“I was so stressed that day, I was glad you were there with your silly lines to make me laugh.” she managed to confess, starting to move back towards him.</p><p>Chase’s face lit up again with a smile and his whole body relaxed.</p><p>“Really?” he asked, hopefully.</p><p>She nodded, biting her lips. She was not sure what to think of all this. Chase said he likes her, but he never showed any interest in her these last three years. The time they meet was probably the longer conversation they had since she started working here.</p><p>“I don’t understand.” she said. “You said you like me, but we haven’t talked, like, at all.”</p><p>She was next to him now and she saw Chase’s body tensing again.</p><p>“I wanted to talk with you, but our services aren’t really working together and I didn’t want to appear as a clumsy and clingy guy. When there was the Christmas party a few days after you arrived, I wanted to take that chance and tried to talk with you. But I ended up under the fucking mistletoe next to Eiffel and before I could blink she was pushing her tongue down my throat.” He made a face at the memory.</p><p>Gert grimaced, feeling bad for him. She really needed to talk with management about the mistletoe. The whole non-consensual kiss thing really had to go.</p><p>“When I finally managed to unglue myself from Eiffel’s claws I saw you laughing with Max. It looked like you were having fun and I didn’t want to bother you. I started checking what you posted online, and it was so clever and brilliant and funny … I thought a girl like you would never take interest in a guy like me.” He admitted.</p><p>“You read my posts?” she whispered, her heart beating loud and knowing she was blushing.</p><p>He nodded.</p><p>“All of them. I loved the <em>‘How to say f*ck to the un-ecologic spirit of Christmas’ </em>by the way.” He chuckled.</p><p>Gert passed her hand automatically on the scarf she was wearing.</p><p>“That’s why you wrapped the t-shirt in the scarf?” she asked.</p><p>“Yeah, I hoped you’d like that. When I saw the color I immediately thought of you.”</p><p>His voice was low and she didn’t realize she was really close to him now.</p><p>“I absolutely love it. Just like the t-shirt. Thank you.” she said with total sincerity, seeing Chase grinning like an idiot at her words. “What gave you the idea of the dinosaur? I never posted about them far as I can remember.” she said.</p><p>“Oh, it was because of those <em>Clever Girl </em>pins you had on your denim jacket last month. I recognized the reference to <em>Jurassic Park</em>. And…well…” He pointed to his own sweater. “As you can see, I really love to pun with the dinosaurs.”</p><p>Gert giggled like a lovesick teenage girl, she wanted to be mad at herself for it, but she couldn’t.</p><p>“You noticed the pins? I’m pretty sure you’re the only one.”</p><p>It was the truth. That day, when she lost her pins in the photocopy room and asked Karolina to help her find them. The blonde girl had had no idea what they looked like. And she spent all day every day sitting next to Gert.</p><p>“Of course I noticed it. I notice everything about you. I’m mean, not in a creepy-stalker kind of way.” He corrected himself, suddenly worried of scaring her off. “Just…When you enter a room, all I see is you.”</p><p>Gert’s brain had officially stop working. How could it, when Chase, the guy she’d unsuccessfully forbidden herself from crushing on for the last three years, was telling her the absolute sweetest/lamest things she’d ever heard. And with Molly having made her watch every rom-com possible, she’d heard some sappy shit. And even usually it would only make her want to roll her eyes and pretend to vomit, that wasn’t the case now.</p><p>“Was it too creepy too?” he asked, bringing her back on Earth. “I didn’t want to sound like a pervert or something…”</p><p>“It wasn’t.” she whispered, leaning closer if it was possible. “It was sweet. A little sappy, but also sweet.”</p><p>They moved closer to each other, not thinking.</p><p>Like magnets.</p><p>He was leaning down and she was tippy toeing, so their faces were almost on the same level. Their noses brushed together and she closed her eyes, closing the distance so her lips could be on his.</p><p>And his lips felt so fucking good.</p><p>Then he was moving his mouth against her. She responded in kind and soon their lips were dancing together in a messy rhythm, but neither of them wanted to stop. She tangled her hands in his hair, pulling her body against him, and he grabbed her waist to keep her there.</p><p>When she felt him sucking her lower lips, she made this high-pitched squeak she’d never heard before and had no idea she could make. She opened her mouth and searched for his tongue to play with.</p><p>They were kissing hungrily, only splitting apart for air for seconds before getting back to each other even more passionately. It was like they couldn’t get enough of each other.</p><p>Gert’s hands moved from his head to his chest, sneaking smugly under his sweater. And God, she’d wanted to take this hideous thing off before, but even more now she felt the firmness of his abs under her fingertips. Chase grunted and he kissed her even more ardently.</p><p>“Ahem …” they heard someone clearing their throat.</p><p>They jumped apart quickly, just to see Alex standing awkwardly at the end of the corridor. He was staring at anything but them, and was clearly more uncomfortable than they were.</p><p>“Um … I’m sorry to interrupt but, Chase, the boss is waiting for us. The presentation, remember?”</p><p>“Right.” Chase replied, looking as wrecked as her.</p><p>His cheeks were red and his hair kind of a mess, and it was entirely her fault.</p><p>“I’m sorry, I have to go …” he apologized to her.</p><p>“It’s fine Chase, don’t worry.” she smiled softly.</p><p>He straightened his sweater and ran a hand through his hair, trying to make him looking more presentable and less like he just had a hot making out session at work. He was grinning lovingly at her and Gert was certain she have approximatively the same expression on her face.</p><p>“I don’t know how long I’ll be, but… Do you think we can see each other again after?” he asked with begging eyes.</p><p>“I’d love to.” she smiled.</p><p>His face lit up like a Christmas tree and, for once, she didn’t mind the Christmas reference. She pecked him on the lips quickly, both smiling.</p><p>When she stepped back, she made her own efforts to wipe away the evidence her lipstick had left on his face. She also straightened her own clothes and they finally moved to meet Alex who was still waiting for his coworker.</p><p>Gert left the fourth floor feeling like a teenager in love and she spent the rest of the day smiling idiotically. Even Karolina was teasing her playfully about it. She still managed to be productive somehow. She wasn’t quite sure how later, but she’d managed it.</p><p>After a meeting with the bosses and a quick walk down the familiar path to the lobby, she was waiting for Chase in front of the <em>Runaway’s </em>building. He showed up a few minutes later, finding her like he had radar for that.</p><p>
  <em>When you’re in a room, all I see is you…</em>
</p><p>She bit her lips. He wasn’t lying about that.</p><p>“Hey.” he grinned.</p><p>“Hey.” she smiled. “How was your meeting?”</p><p>“Super. The boss liked our project.” he said proudly.</p><p>“That’s great!” she exclaimed.</p><p>“Yep. And you? How was the rest of your day?” he asked.</p><p>“Good. I got see the bosses too, but for different reasons…” she started.</p><p>Chase frowned, wondering what she was talking about, and Gert giggled. She grabbed what she was hiding in her pocket, showing him the fake mistletoe she confiscated from the company’s decoration bin.</p><p>“After a little chat on patriarchal tradition, consent and how a kiss given because of this thing could be seen as harassment, they agreed to stop putting it up. I made sure to take it myself just to be sure.” She explained.</p><p>She bit her lips and, nerves zinging through her and this extremely bold and totally not her idea, raised the faux mistletoe as high as she could over their heads.</p><p>“Yeah?” Chase asked, smirking. “Well, do I have your consent to perpetuate this patriarchal tradition with you?”</p><p>She giggled and nodded, lifting herself on her toes again so her lips could meet him.</p><p>They kissed tenderly, stepping back after a few seconds, but staying close. They chuckled happily and decided to go drink a coffee together, walking side by side.</p><p>Maybe Gert could grow to like this whole Secret Santa tradition after all.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey everyone! And Merry Christmas!<br/>I hope you guys have enjoy this little one-shot, I just wanted to write a little something en rapport with the current holiday. If you like it, please let me know with kudos/comments, I always love to read about what you think of my writings.<br/>I hope you're all doing well and I present you again my best wishes for the festive season :)<br/>Take care.<br/>Elodie.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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